Rants and Consoling
by NeuroticMusing
Summary: Rants and Chinese takeout sometimes don't mix, however, they do for a certain vigilante and blogger. Vince/Orwell


**Hey Capers! Some crazy stuff is happening in my area, so I feel the need to focus on stories. Hope you like this one! I guess you can consider this post Endgame. **

**I do not own The Cape.**

_**Rants and Consoling **_

"Come on Orwell, you've gotta talk to me _sometime_," Vince egged his partner on. He stood over her as she sat down, sulking.

"No I don't," the blogger countered. She stared down at the pattern on the flooring and kept her arms defiantly crossed.

The vigilante sighed and pulled up a chair to sit down next to her. "Well, I'm not leaving from this spot until you talk to me."

Orwell picked her head up and narrowed her eyes at Vince. "I'm talking to you now, aren't I?"

The Cape bored his eyes into hers. "Not what I meant."

The blogger scoffed. "Please, Vince. By all means, what _did _you mean?"

"What's going on, Orwell?" the vigilante paused to throw a hand up in the air. "You came in here _obviously _with something on your mind," he then grabbed his partner by the hand and looked from it, to back at her. "Your hands are trembling. _Something _isn't right."

Orwell's eyes flickered back at him. He could instantly tell that something he just said got to her. "Why do you want to know?" she yanked her hand back and didn't waver her eyes once. "What about me is so interesting that you must ask so many _questions_?"

Vince watched as his partner lowered her head into her hands. He could have sworn that he heard a cry escape her lips. That definitely raised his suspicions into facts; _something_ really wasn't right. He then lightly grabbed her by the shoulders and gave them a gentle squeeze.

Feeling his touch, Orwell picked up her head and looked the vigilante straight in the face. She gave him the faintest of smiles and responded, "I'm alright."

Vince returned the smile and dropped an arm from her left shoulder to her back. He gently rubbed her back and spoke just as gently, "yeah, that's what everyone says after they erupt like an angry volcano."

The blogger looked down at her lap as her face lightened. "Thanks for the concern, but I really am alright."

The Cape looked across the room to where his partner normally kept her equipment when she came by for a visit. However, she only had her purse with her this time. Vince returned his eyes back to the blogger and asked, "where's your tech stuff?"

Orwell's pretty little smile faded away. Not even his touch was able to calm her down this time. "I don't want to talk about it," she said against gritted teeth.

A little light bulb went off in Vince's head. "Weren't you going to hack into ARK systems today?"

The blogger looked back up at Vince. "I did," she said flatly.

"Something tells me that didn't go over well," the vigilante said as he slowly began to rub his partner's back again.

"You have no idea," Orwell murmured.

Vince took a minute to look at his partner in silence. He had gotten her to smile before, but he didn't know if he could get away with it so easily this time around. "Hey, Orwell?" the Cape finally asked.

"Yes?" the brunette answered lightly.

"I need to go get something in town. Will you promise to behave yourself while I'm gone?" Vince asked with a smirk.

"No Vince. When you get back, your place will be painted bright pink," Orwell said sarcastically with her own smirk in place.

The Cape held his mouth agape to protest only to have his partner chime in. "I'm just kidding Vince. But where _are _you going?"

"You'll see," Vince replied with a smile.

"Very funny," the blogger dropped her tone. "Where are you going?" she tried again.

"Can't tell you yet. It'll ruin the surprise," the Cape said with a grin. He knew she was going to eat him alive for this but she's just too cute when she's miffed at him.

Orwell began to gnaw on the inside of her cheek. With a heavy sigh, she spat out at him, "fine, just go."

Vince held the same grin on his face as he took his hand off of his partner's back, and rose to his feet. "I'll be back in about ten minutes, okay?"

"Uh-huh," the blogger said hastily.

The Cape then took Orwell in his arms and gave her a light hug. Even though the brunette wasn't expecting it, she wasn't quick to back away from it.

As he sat her back down on her seat, Orwell had to try so hard not to smile. She was supposed to be _mad _with him, why does he make it so difficult?

Vince gave his partner one last smile before he walked out. He hoped to God that their hug kept the blogger from doing anything drastic in the ten minutes he would be gone.

The blogger tried to keep her wits about herself while her partner was away. She was about fifteen seconds from spiking Vince's beers, or re-painting the whole hideout. Either way, she quickly decided against it. Taking a look around her friend's home away from home, she tried to find something to keep herself from going crazy. She had no computer access due to her recent attempts to hack into ARK's database. Her whole system was fried and it was going to take weeks to repair. That was the whole reason she was sulking in the first place. Maybe Vince had a stress ball somewhere, she deflated hers a while ago.

The next thing that came to her mind was coffee. The caffeinated beverage was yet another one of her weaknesses. It tended to calm her down, and right now she would use any calming remedies she could find. With a sigh, she rose to her feet and carried herself to the coffee pot. Thank God Vince shared the same love of coffee. The blogger smiled when she thought of her partner. If she hadn't had him around, there was no telling how Orwell would be fairing with her life. Of course, her gear had been fried _because _of Vince, but, he mattered quite a bit more to her than her tech ever would. She grabbed a coffee filter and aligned it perfectly with the basket of the coffee pot. As she added the water in back of the pot and scooped the coffee grounds into the filter, the blogger heard the door to Vince's hideout open. Orwell turned her head to see Vince walking up to her.

"I'm seriously surprised the place isn't painted pink," he said with a smile.

"I was very tempted, but I found coffee more satisfying," the brunette said as she turned her attention back to the task at hand. She closed the lid and turned the coffee pot on, instantly smelling her favorite brand of coffee. "You never had this kind before," the blogger said as she faced Vince, leaning her back against the counter.

The vigilante shrugged. "And I don't really care for it, actually."

Orwell's face scrunched up in confusion. "Then why did you buy it?"

"Because I know you like it," Vince smirked faintly.

"That's kind of sweet in a creepy way," the blogger paused. "How did you know I liked it?"

"You told me," the Cape said as he walked over to a table and placed a bag of Chinese takeout on it. "Just like you told me how much you love Chinese food."

The brunette's smile finally came back. "I didn't know you pay _that _much attention to me, Vince."

"Of course I do," Vince said as he began to take out the two different containers of food.

Orwell turned back around to the coffee pot. Partly to check on the coffee, but partly to hide the blush burning into her flesh. To make matters worse, the vigilante stepped forward and stood beside his partner. Her heart soared to her stomach, but she was able to keep her calm. The blogger just turned her head and smiled at her friend, "you want some coffee?"

"No thanks. Fancy coffee and Chinese food… I can't see how that would be a good combination," Vince said with a chuckle.

"Hey, don't knock something down if you've never tried it before," Orwell said with a smirk as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

The Cape smiled down at his friend. "Have you tried it before?"

The blogger let out a laugh. "No," she turned around to look up into his eyes.

"You have no room to talk, Orwell," Vince said with a playful gleam in his eyes.

"Shut up, Vince," the blogger teased as she blew some of the steam away from her cup, taking a sip from it afterwards.

"Well, if I do, who will talk to you while you rant on about ARK?" the vigilante asked.

"Who said I wanted to rant about anything?" Orwell walked on to grab her container and silverware. She then made a beeline for Vince's bed.

"Who said you could eat on my bed?" Vince paused, smirking a bit. "Oh and no one ever said you wanted to rant, but I can tell Orwell, you do need to rant."

The blogger bobbed her head and hoisted herself up onto her place of comfort.

The Cape was amazed at the balance that girl had. If he had a hot cup of coffee, _and_ the container of food, he surely would have dropped or spilt something. Vince snapped himself out of his trance and followed behind his partner's steps.

As he situated himself to face Orwell, she looked up with a smile. "Thanks, Vince. I was actually pretty starved."

"Well I had good timing then," the vigilante said as he reciprocated the smile.

"Mhm," the brunette said as she ducked her head to eat a few bites of the noodles.

Vince's smile spread into a grin as he watched the blogger attack her food. "I don't think I've ever seen you eat so fast in my life. I didn't know it was possible for you to eat fast."

Orwell looked up at her partner and narrowed her gaze back at him. "Just because I like to savor my meals, not like you, Mr. Chomps-a-lot, doesn't mean I _can't _eat fast."

"Sure, Orwell, _sure_," the Cape said as he shoveled food into his mouth.

"Just eat your food, Vince," Orwell said with her own smirk.

"You don't have to tell me twice," the vigilante said with a full mouth.

"Ew, Vince. Manners please," the blogger reprimanded with a look of disgust in place.

"Sorry," Vince said, smiling sheepishly.

"Well I guess you're excused this time," Orwell joked.

The Cape's playful smile withered and was replaced by a caring one. "So tell me, what's going on?"

"What do you mean?" the brunette asked.

"I mean, what's been bugging you today? Rant away. I'll listen," Vince said as he stuffed his face some more.

"You want to know what's bugging me? _Fine_, I'll tell you what's wrong with me," Orwell said aggravatingly stabbing her food. "ARK zapped my gear today while I was trying to tap into the security feed. Modem is fried. Hard-drive is wiped…" she trailed off, taking a sip of her coffee.

"You're just lucky they didn't catch you, Orwell," the vigilante started.

"Yes, ARK capturing me is the worst possible scenario," the blogger sneered.

"Yes it is. Your computer gear is nothing near as valuable as your life," Vince pressed on.

"I _need _my computer. What if something important happens? Like something important enough that can take you home? You would miss it all because of me," Orwell spoke defensively.

"I _need _you Orwell! If something comes up, I may have another chance at getting home. _You _never have a second chance at living!" the Cape spat back.

The blogger didn't pay attention to anything her partner had just said. She gritted her teeth and began her rant again. "I could have done so much for the rest of the day. But ARK had to take that all away."

"ARK takes a lot of things away," Vince said. He wasn't helping, only feeding the fire.

"You're right," Orwell started, "they tear families apart, marriages, everything," she laughed bitterly. "And Fleming thinks this is a _better _world with ARK?" she trailed off and shook her head.

The Cape thought she was talking about him for a moment. It soon clicked in his mind that she was talking about _herself _as well. "Orwell?"

"How can anyone _not _see the fake Peter Fleming is? All of his followers are nothing but incompetent sheep," the blogger added.

"Orwell…." Vince tried again.

"They're looking up to him as if he's God. The people need to have someone to follow. If they don't, they freeze, acting like nothing's wrong," Orwell said before she downed the rest of her coffee.

The vigilante sighed. She wasn't listening to him at all. He stared at her and saw that her hands had begun to tremble once again. Vince knew he had to do something to calm her down. He took a grip of her hand and squeezed it. She stopped talking, but he could tell that she was cracking. He couldn't stand to see the woman he cared more deeply for than he initially led on, on the verge of becoming emotionally distraught. Vince set both of their empty containers to the side and took Orwell in his arms.

"Am I ranting enough for you?" she asked weakly.

"You've done enough ranting for the day, alright? Now you need to listen to me," the Cape said gently as he ran a finger across the blogger's jaw line.

Orwell just nodded.

"No matter what ARK does to your tech, that doesn't matter. I won't care, not as long as you're okay," Vince went on with a small smile.

"Vince," the blogger tried to protest.

The vigilante closed the gap between them and locked her in a kiss. Getting past the residual shock, Orwell finally realized what was going on. She didn't try to back away, didn't try to fight back, she just sat up straight and wrapped her arms around Vince's neck, pulling their bodies closer.

Vince and Orwell pulled their lips apart for a moment. The Cape smoothed his partner's hair down and smiled at her. The blogger craned her neck to fill in the tiny gap again, placing a feather-light kiss on his lips.

"I need you, Orwell," the vigilante said, almost breathlessly.

The blogger gave him a confused look. "_Me_? Why me? The only thing I'm good for is helping you get home. You don't need _me_."

"Do you think I'd be able to handle all that tech by myself?" Vince paused and tightened his grip around the brunette's waist. "I need _all _of you. Tech-savvy Orwell, even ranting Orwell," he continued, giving her another breath-stealing kiss.

"I need you too," the blogger answered, almost timidly. She never admitted to anyone else that she needed help. No one had been there in so long- she had to act alone with every step she made. Now that she did have someone to help her, she was afraid that it was too good to be true. Orwell wanted to believe Vince, she wanted to believe that he would always be there for her. Though, even if she was only his for a little while, the blogger would still treasure it, because, she was still _his_.

**Okay, so how was it guys? Hopefully you guys aren't getting tooth decay from all of the sweet fluffiness. **


End file.
